A Timely Interlude
by Lirael8
Summary: Early in Hermione's third year, exhaustion has already set in. With her course-load, the secret she must keep from Harry and Ron, and the stress of Sirius Black's escape looming over them, Hermione can barely keep it together. When she accidentally falls asleep and wakes up in the Hogwarts of the 1970's, she meets a handsome, dangerous boy. Can she return home? Will she want to?
1. Chapter 1

**~The following is a work of fan fiction. It uses characters, places, and things from J.K. Rowling's fantastic creation Harry Potter, which is copyrighted by her. I do not claim ownership of anything owned/copyrighted by the lovely J.K. Rowling.~**

Hermione awoke to the gentle nudging of a cleverly cast alarm spell that she had discovered in her first year. She yawned and rolled over, dislodging the heavy book that had been propped on her stomach. She realized as she rolled that she was gripping the Time-Turner which was attached to a delicate but sturdy chain around her neck. She tucked it securely beneath her nightgown thinking that she may have to remove it while she slept from now on.

She sighed as the early morning sun began to shine through the girl's dormitory windows and slipped quietly out of her four poster, conscious of the other girls who would not be awake for hours yet. Lavender was one to get particularly annoyed if her beauty rest was interrupted and Hermione knew she had been up late cramming for the Transfiguration quiz.

Hermione stretched and padded over to the window while thinking of her ever-growing list of assignments and her carefully crafted schedule for that day. She noticed that Professor Dumbledore stood at the window of the Headmaster's Office as well, gazing thoughtfully over the castle and grounds. She wondered to herself that he never seemed to sleep - a product of a busy schedule or haunted thoughts? She suspected that Sirius Black's attack on the Fat Lady just a few days ago may still be on his mind. Hermione shook her head slightly, scolding herself for her usual nosiness, and went to the washroom to attempt to tame the wild nest that her bushy hair had become in the night.

* * *

"Oi, you're about to nod off into your porridge," said Ron as he hesitantly tapped Hermione's shoulder. Ron, like any typical 13-year-old boy, became immediately awkward at the prospect of touching a girl, even his best friend.

Hermione started but replied sharply "No I wasn't, Ronald, I was simply deep in thought. Did you finish your Charms homework?"

Ron mumbled something into his own breakfast about Merlin's wrinkled left something-or-other and a wonderment on who may have peed in her potion. Hermione inwardly winced at her curt reply and noticed Harry looking at her with concern across the Gryffindor table.

"Hermione, are you sure you're not overwhelmed? We know you have a lot on your plate…besides cold, half-eaten porridge," he said, his eyes soft.

"I'm alright, really, just a bit tired," she smiled apologetically at them both. "I spent the morning in the library editing my essay for Arithmancy and doing some last minute studying for Transfiguration."

Ron looked up at her gaping. "Transfiguration?"

"Yes, remember, we went over flashcards last night in the common room to prepare for the quiz."

"Errr, that's right. I reckon I'll ace it. Definitely. No problem."

Hermione laughed lightly and resisted the urge to ruffle his already rumpled hair. "Of course you will. Now come on both of you, breakfast is nearly over."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed towards Care of Magical Creatures but Hermione stopped when they reached the Entrance Hall.

"I'll meet you at Hagrid's," she said. "I just have to visit the lavatory."

Hermione hurried to the Arithmancy classroom where she spent the hour soaking up every word of Professor Vector. Hermione delightedly took notes about the absent minded and paranoid Bridget Wenlock, although she already knew the details of Wenlock's discovery of the magical properties of the number seven. Hermione left the classroom elated and already looking forward to the next lesson where she would receive Professor Vector's notes on the essay she had just handed in.

Hermione turned the corner and went straight into the girl's bathroom, refusing to catch the eye of Lucy, a fellow Gryffindor third year, who would likely want to complain to Hermione about the difficulty of Arithmancy. The redheaded girl had taken to asking Hermione to explain the material following each lesson, which Hermione didn't usually mind, but simply didn't have time for at the moment.

Today was one of the days when she would have four classes before lunch and one after, and although she was excited to see Hagrid and take the quiz in Transfiguration that she had prepared so meticulously for, she had to admit she was truly exhausted. She peered in each of the stalls, making sure no one was hanging around, before entering the stall farthest from the door. She had begun using that one for her time travel because the orientation of the pipes made it so Moaning Myrtle would periodically shoot out of the toilet when she was unwittingly flushed down her own. This, of course, made is so no one ever used this particular stall. Hermione slid the bolt in place and pulled the Time-Turner from beneath her robes. She carefully rotated the tiny hourglass backwards one time and braced herself, squeezing her eyes shut, as she began to feel her very molecules start to unravel.

When she opened her eyes, she listened as two Slytherin girls washed their hands and gushed over the supposed miracle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion.

"I bet that stuff could even tame Hermione Granger's horrible hair," one tittered.

The other girl was laughing loudly as they exited the bathroom. Maybe I should keep that in mind, Hermione thought tiredly.

* * *

Hermione spent the next hour in Muggle Studies which she loved simply for the atmosphere of acceptance and curiosity of the Muggle world. She would never admit it to Harry and Ron but she also enjoyed being one of the "experts" on the subject; Professor Burbage called on her frequently to explain everything from hair dryers to gaming consoles. Hermione was glad that Ron wasn't in the class to snicker at her exuberance. She had made the somewhat whimsical decision to use a mechanical pencil and bright pink notebook rather than quill and parchment to take notes on the Muggle world.

As she left the classroom tucking her notebook into a zippered compartment of her bag, Hermione could feel her exhaustion setting in once again. The excitement over her latest monologue on the Muggle Underground was quickly fading.

As she tripped toward the bathroom and her usual stall, she noticed the Whomping Willow out of a small, circular window. Two of it's huge branches swung at a brazen squirrel that had apparently tried to run up it's trunk. Hermione hoped the squirrel was quick enough to avoid the aggressive tree.

Hermione sat heavily on the closed lid of the toilet and pulled the Time-Turner free of her robes. She yanked it haphazardly over her head thinking that she would just rest her eyes for a few moments before going back the hour to meet Harry and Ron at Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures.

Her tired mind thought fuzzily of the Whomping Willow. After it had attacked the boys in the beginning of their second year, Hermione had done some research on the magical plant. She found that it had been planted in the 70's but she couldn't find any explanation as to why such a dangerous plant would be purposely placed on the Hogwart's grounds. She wondered as well why no one ever seemed to go near it, neither in curiosity or foolish bravery. Hermione fiddled absently with the Time-Turner as she struggled not to drift off entirely. She was fighting a losing battle, however, and as she sank into a dreamless sleep, the Time-Turner fell, spinning quickly from her fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

**~Hey fellow FanFiction lovers! I hope you're enjoying the story! I'm going to attempt to post weekly but don't hold me to that. I'd love to hear any comments or thoughts you may have!~**

Hermione's eyes flew open as she startled awake and jumped to her feet. She heard a loud, heart-stopping crunch and all she could do for several moments was stare down at what used to be the Time-Turner, now a pile of broken pieces and sand.

"REPARO!" Hermione almost shrieked.

The Time-Turner stayed in pieces, however, as she knew it would. The mending spell would not work on powerful magical objects such as the Time-Turner but in her panic, she had needed to try. Hermione's mind was whirling but as hard as she thought, she could not make sense of the situation. The Time-Turner should not be able to be broken by the simple weight of someone stepping on it! There were very few things, in fact, that could destroy a Time-Turner. Hermione's stomach clenched painfully as she imagined telling Professor McGonagall that the Time-Turner was broken, that she had been so irresponsible.

She could feel the beginnings of tears pricking her eyes but she squared her shoulders and began to gather up everything she could of the broken pieces. She emptied a pouch of quills into her bag and dropped what she had gathered into it. She knew that she could not have slept more than an hour which would mean only that she missed Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid would understand and she could tell the boys that she had felt ill on the way to the bathroom and had decided to spend the hour resting.

Hermione decided that she would go straight to Professor McGonagall and explain what had happened; there was no use delaying it, as much as she yearned to. Plus, the Time-Turner must be defective, she reasoned, to break so easily. She thought miserably that she may not be allowed to continue with her enhanced course load, though, once Professor McGonagall heard that she had fallen asleep in the girl's room. Hermione would miss Muggle Studies, but she wouldn't at all mind dropping Divination, which she found to be quite woolly.

As Hermione left the stall, she felt belatedly relieved that no one had been in the bathroom to hear the commotion. She opened the door and entered the throng of students leaving their lessons, thinking she would try the teacher's lounge first for Professor McGonagall.

She came to an abrupt halt, gobsmacked. The halls were hung with Christmas garlands and the suit of armor closest to her was singing a garbled Christmas carol. Hermione's mind raced. Had she somehow travelled forward or backward in time without her knowledge? It had been November 3rd when she had fallen asleep so the most likely scenario was that she had gone forward approximately a month. As a rule though, it was impossible to travel forward in time using a Time-Turner but time-related magic is incredibly unstable and if this Time-Turner was defective...As she was standing frantically pondering her predicament, she suddenly felt someone knock into her from the back, sending her sprawling forward.

"BLIMEY! You can't just stop in the middle of the bloody corridor!" she heard someone shout from somewhere above her.

Hermione turned her head, still on the floor, and looked up into the face of Harry Potter. No. Not Harry. The boy standing above her looked remarkably like her best friend except his eyes which were hazel, not the familiar startling green.

"Prongs, you tosser, at least offer the girl a hand up."

Hermione ripped her eyes away from the Harry doppelgänger to look at the boy standing next to him, extending his hand down to her.

He was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. His dark shaggy hair fell into his amused grey eyes and the sleeves of his robes were pushed up to the elbow, revealing the lean muscle of his forearm. She turned fully around and took his hand, dazed. He pulled her up easily but then quickly released her hand. She noticed that her hand felt warm where it had grasped his.

He stood about a head taller than her and she imagined that he would be able to rest his chin on her hair if they were to embrace. Hermione was surprised at herself; what an odd thing to think.

"You're in Gryffindor? I don't think I've seen you around," the magnificent boy asked casually, nodding to the red and gold colors of her collar.

"W-What? No, err, Ravenclaw. My friend and I switched uniforms for a laugh," Hermione stuttered.

She had been wrong. She clearly wasn't in her own time. She didn't recognize the boy nor, as she glanced around, anyone passing in the hallway. She also realized that most of the hairstyles of the students around her were strangely old-fashioned. She figured it would be more believable that an unknown girl was in a different house, though both the boys looked like they might be in fifth or sixth year.

"Mate, I'm starved. Can we go to lunch?" asked the Harry look-a-like called Prongs. "Quidditch practice later, got to keep my strength up," he winked at her.

"What my friend meant to say was that he's sorry he knocked you over," said the beautiful boy, elegantly rolling his eyes.

"AH YES, MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES AND KINDEST REGARDS, FAIR MAIDEN!" cried Prongs as he gave an impressively deep, flourishing bow.

"Alright, Sir Cadogan, let's get a move on," the other boy said as he gave her one last dazzling smile and grabbed Prongs by the arm, dragging him in the direction of the Great Hall.

She watched as a group of girls stopped chatting to stare at the two boys appreciatively as they passed.

Hermione realized suddenly that she couldn't stand around in the corridor of another time just waiting to affect someone or something. She needed somewhere familiar to think, to plan her next move. She looked around for her bag which has fallen off her shoulder when she fell forward. She spotted it, hefted it over her shoulder, and set off quickly toward her sacred, beloved haven keeping her head down and trying to avoid the notice of anyone.

* * *

Hermione found to her relief that the library was virtually unchanged. She headed to her favorite table deep in the stacks. The portrait that hung above the table was of a wizard who snored constantly which practically guaranteed that no one was ever sitting there. Most students found the snoring to be too disruptive to their studying but Hermione happened to find it rather soothing.

She sat at the table hearing the comforting rumble of the sleeping wizard and put her head down on her arms. She had no idea what year it was and regardless, had no way to return to 1993. Two boys in this year had seen her, interacted with her, and she could therefore have already interrupted the flow of this timeline.

She froze as she realized why the boy who had knocked her down must look so similar to Harry. Now that she had time to think, she knew the only explanation that made sense. The boy was James Potter, Harry's father. Hadn't she heard a multitude of people say that Harry looked like his father? She also remembered that she had read that James and Lily were 21 when they were killed in 1981 which would mean that the current year had to be 1975 or 1976. Hermione realized with a sick jolt that the lively, arrogant boy she had just met would die at the hands of Voldemort in 5 or so years.

She forced herself to focus. How in the name of Merlin's baggy blue pants had she travelled back in time roughly 18 years using a Time-Turner which, by Ministry standards, should only allow the user to travel forward or back 5 hours at the most? Even her original thought that she had travelled forward a month had been far-fetched, at best! Was she dreaming? She pinched herself sharply, yelped quietly, and then rolled her eyes hard at the cliché of actually pinching herself. She now knew, also, why the Time-Turner had broken when she stepped on it. Magical objects become physically brittle for a brief period after exhausting an extremely large amount of magical power.

What should she do now? The obvious answer was to find Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore, both of whom she knew were at Hogwarts throughout the 70's. As she considered it more though, she began to feel like that would be the wrong decision. Would explaining her failure to the Professor McGonagall of the past, colour the future McGonagall's opinion of her? Even worse, would the McGonagall and Dumbledore in this future's timeline now not allow Hermione to have a Time-Turner? Maybe Professor McGonagall would be furious with her for affecting the future, even McGonagall's own future, in such a way. She shuddered at all the possible consequences of her actions. She would simply have to either fix the Time-Turner or discover another way back to her time all the while minimizing her impact on her surroundings.

She almost smiled as she looked around - if the answer to the shambles she was in was anywhere, it was here, in one of the largest collections of magical texts in Britain. Although, she may have to sneak into the Restricted Section to find what she was looking for, she thought. Hermione really did smile when she noted that Harry and Ron had certainly rubbed off on her.

With a plan in place and the disturbing yet oddly thrilling knowledge that she was intentionally not seeking a teacher's help, the stress of the last hour and admittedly the last few months, caught up with her. She slumped forward, fast asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione woke with a stiff neck and a list of research topics already formed in her mind, as if her brain had been working on them as she slept. She retrieved parchment and quill from her bag and recorded each one in small, neat handwriting. Her first concern was the physical effects of travelling forward in time - if she could fix or alter the Time-Turner to allow her to travel forward to her own time only for her body to age 20 years, it would all be pointless.

When Hermione looked up from her list, she realized that she could hear voices coming from behind the bookshelf to her right.

"-playing the usual game. You know, trying to touch the trunk. The branch got 'em this time though, right across the face, I heard. He was rushed off to St Mungo's. 'Suppose Madam Pomfrey couldn't heal him properly," said a girl in mock-hushed tones.

"Davey is such a wanker," said a boy dismissively.

"Sod off, Evan, I seem to remember you playing just last week," cut in a different boy, "Did you hear anything else, Bertha?"

"Aye, apparently Professor Dumbledore went with poor Davey to the hospital but tomorrow at breakfast, he's going to talk to us all about staying well clear of the Whomping Willow from now on."

"One tosser always ruins it for the rest of us," said the boy called Evan.

"Ah well, what did you write for question number four?" asked the other boy.

Their voices faded as something stirred in Hermione's memory. Hadn't she been thinking about the Whomping Willow when she fell asleep and woke up in this time? Did intention dictate where one travelled? She was now in the 1970's when the tree had been planted and she may have just heard why it was universally avoided. An injury had to be serious if Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix it; she healed Hermione when she grew cat ears and a tail _and_ regrew all the bones in Harry's arm in the second year!

The knowledge that there were other students so close though, students whose futures she could potentially affect, made Hermione recognize that her first task had to be finding a way to remain unnoticed. She mourned the fact that she could not use Harry's invisibility cloak but remembered reading about a Disillusionment Charm that could render the user virtually invisible. She realized with something like amusement that the invisibility cloak she yearned for was most likely still in the castle in the possession of James Potter.

Hermione couldn't risk leaving her relatively hidden nook to find the book she needed for the charm but knew that it had to be close to the library's closing time. As if on cue, she heard a gentle voice telling the group next to her that the library was closing and they would have to study in their common rooms. Hermione swiftly cast a quietening charm on herself and feeling like a small child, climbed under the table and hid until the librarian had thoroughly and lovingly dusted every shelf around her table.

For another quarter of an hour, she could hear the librarian bustling around, returning books to shelves and tidying up. Hermione was beginning to feel rather cramped and hot when she heard someone come into the library.

"Madam Pince, would you be so kind as to join me for tea this evening?" asked a man's voice, timidly.

Madam Pince, thought Hermione, could she be related to the Hogwart's librarian of her time? She just had to be, Hermione decided, it was far too much of a coincidence.

"No, thank you. I've a delightful book calling to me, I'm afraid," said the librarian.

"Please, Pineapple, I want to be involved. I want us to be together, to be a family," begged the man.

"I've asked you not to call me that and we already tried, Horace, it didn't work," replied the woman sternly but with a certain softness in her voice. "Now if you'll excuse me.."

Hermione heard the man sigh and the door open.

"Horace," the woman said quietly, "Irma is doing well, she just read her first five volume compendium."

There was a long silence before the door closed completely. Hermione heard the librarian sniffle a few times, put a few more books away, and then leave the library as well.

Hermione didn't move for a few moments, in shock over the personal exchange she had just unwittingly intruded upon. She blinked a few times and then pushed herself up from under the table.

She went to work straight away, locating a book helpfully entitled _The Wallflower: Charms and Enchantments to be Invisible._ It unfortunately only had a short description and basic theory behind the Disillusionment Charm but Hermione took the book back to her table and began making notes. When she had gone through the entire thing, she ventured out to find another source.

She was rounding a corner when she noticed a dark figure sitting at a table by a window. She made a strangled noise and jumped in surprise. The figure looked up from the book he had been engrossed in and Hermione's stomach did a strange flip when she saw that it was the boy who had helped her up earlier.

"Oh, it's you again, the fake Gryffindor," he grinned at her.

Hermione's heart was racing, just from the surprise, she told herself.

"Erhm, hello, what are you doing here?" she managed to get out.

He looked around at his table which was covered in open books, parchment, and quills.

"I'm working on a sort of project. Well, my friends and I are working on it. Top secret though, can't go around blabbering about it," he said, his eyes sparkling.

"Well, I won't bother you," she said, realizing she shouldn't be talking to him at all.

He shrugged and took a quill down from behind his ear, spinning it in his fingers.

"Feeling peckish?" he said as a moved aside parchment to reveal a plate of cheese and rolls. "Nicked some food from the kitchen."

Hermione's stomach rumbled loudly and it occurred to her that she hadn't eaten since this morning. Morning? How long had that been ago, really? She knew she shouldn't but she was suddenly so hungry and she felt drawn to the boy as if by magnetic force. She pulled out a chair and sat down, pulling the plate toward her and picking up a roll.

"So what are you doing anyway? Here in the dead of night. Quite the rule breaker. I admire that." he asked, his mouth quirking up again.

"It's hardly the dead of night," she said around a mouthful of bread. "I'm working on a sort of project too, I suppose."

"Something for extra credit? Despite your daring library break-in, you look like the brainy-type," he teased.

She rolled her eyes, adding a mental tick mark to the number of times someone had told her that.

"Something like that. But I'm afraid us brainy-types have secrets too," she retorted.

He barked a laugh. "Fair enough."

She glanced down curiously, noticing the pages of notes in messy but organized writing.

"If you and your friends are working on this project, how come they're not here helping?" she asked.

"Potter has Quidditch, Pettigrew is useless, and Lupin is, uh, ill a lot of time. So it falls to me to do the research," he sighed dramatically. "Don't tell anyone, but I quite enjoy it."

Lupin? Professor Lupin? Hermione supposed he was the right age to have been at Hogwarts around this time. She wished she could tell Harry that the Professor had been friends with his father.

"I'm feeling suddenly remiss," he said, "I don't even know your name."

"Jane... Puckle," she said thinking quickly. "Yours?"

He looked a little surprised that she didn't know his name but stuck out his hand and said "Sirius, Sirius Black."


	4. Chapter 4

Horror and disgust must have been plain on Hermione's face because Black retracted his hand and said, "Bloody hell, my reputation can't be THAT bad. Potter and I muck about quite a bit, but...Or have you heard of my family? They're an evil lot, I know."

Hermione stood up quickly, the chair falling backwards and clattering to the ground.

"I have to go," she said sharply and half ran toward the library's exit.

"Jane!" he called but the door was already swinging shut behind her.

As soon as Hermione was out of the library, she began flat out running. It was after nine o'clock so the corridors were deserted as she ran. Her legs carried her automatically up staircase after staircase until she came to a stop in front of the Fat Lady's portrait on the seventh floor. She wished terribly that she could go inside to her dormitory and lie down in her four-poster. She turned away though, not wanting to wake the Fat Lady and headed down a random corridor.

For one of the first times in her life, she was at a complete loss as to what to do. She had been talking to, she may even have _fancied,_ the man who killed 13 people including Peter Pettigrew with a single curse. Peter Pettigrew! Hadn't Black just said Pettigrew was one of his friends? Not only that but Black had attempted to break into Gryffindor tower just a few days ago to attack her best friend! Hermione paced back and forth, shaking, barely aware of her surroundings. Really, all she wanted was a safe, comfortable place to think and kip for a few hours.

Suddenly, she could hear footsteps coming down the corridor. She whipped her head around in a panic and opened the first door she saw, throwing herself inside. She listened with her breath held until the footsteps faded. As she turned to look at the room, her breath left her in a surprised gust.

She wasn't in an empty classroom as she had expected. Instead, she was in a large room that reminded her oddly of her bedroom with her parents. Bookshelves lined the walls and in the middle of the space was a massive bed covered in a red and gold bedspread. What was this place? She had never read about Hogwarts having any dormitories other than those attached to the four house common rooms. Was this a teacher's lodgings? Somehow, she didn't think so.

Hermione decided that she would take advantage of the gift that the castle itself seemed to be offering her. She pointed her wand at the door knob and whispered "Colloportus" and then kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed, snuggling down. She squeezed her eyes shut and told herself harshly that the boy's identity didn't change a thing. She couldn't alter the past. She couldn't help who he would grow up to be or the fact that he would betray his friends. She let out a stifled sob thinking of how it would destroy Harry to know that someone in league with his father's murderer had been his father's friend while they were at Hogwarts. And how would James feel if he knew that his friend was now trying to kill his son? What did Professor Lupin think of his traitorous schoolmate? Her heart stopped when she considered if Lupin could be involved in Sirius's current plot to hurt Harry. Her mind responded with a resounding, unequivocal no. She had known Professor Lupin for only a few months but she felt strongly that he was a good sort.

She felt absolutely gutted about everything she had learned but knew she could do nothing. What if she tried to help and something even worse happened? What if Harry was never born? What if the world she returned to was nothing like the one she had left?

And how, _how_ could she have felt so drawn to a person like Sirius?

All she could do, she told herself over and over again, was to find a way back to her own time. She closed her eyes even tighter, willing herself to sleep, to give her mind a few minutes rest. She had fallen asleep for a couple hours here and there but she was nowhere near close to being fully rested. Exhaustion and stress finally won, as she knew they would.

Hermione dreamt of Sirius. It was dark and they were standing in the grass by an unmoving Whomping Willow. The chill night air blew around them as he reached out to put his hand against her cheek. He was murmuring to her, begging her forgiveness, telling her that she didn't understand. Warmth spread over her as he took a step closer and she lifted her face so they were barely inches from one another…

Hermione jerked awake and sat up. She felt disgusted with herself. How could she still feel this way about him, knowing what kind of man he would grow up to be? She just couldn't reconcile the grinning, perfect boy with the pictures in the _Daily Prophet_ of the criminal with sunken cheeks and dead eyes. And how, she demanded of herself, could she feel any way about him - she barely knew him.

Hermione forced her thoughts towards practical things and in doing so, realized she had left her bag and notes on the Disillusionment Charm on the table in the library. She wished there was a clock in the room and as soon as the thought entered her mind, there was one. An ornate silver desk clock sat on the bedside table reading 4 o'clock.

Hermione had an idea and carefully thought how much she would appreciate a bathroom with a large bathtub. She was rewarded with a door materializing next to one of the many bookshelves.

When Hermione left the bathroom, she felt clean and ready to continue with her research. She roughly pushed away any thought of the dream or the boy in it as she put on her shoes and took a final look around the miraculous room. She was unbelievably curious about what kind of spells would allow the room to cater to the wishes of the occupant and marveled that there was no mention of the bedroom in any text on Hogwarts that she had come across.

She peeked out of the door, wishing she had already mastered the Disillusionment Charm. The corridor was empty so she stepped out, closing the door noiselessly behind her. When she turned to look back, there was only blank wall.

"Aparecium," she whispered as she tapped the stone smartly with her wand. Nothing.

"Revelio," she said but again, the wall was unchanged.

"Specialis Revelio," she tried a third time as she slowly moved her wand over the area. This time a faint blue glow appeared, proving there was a charm on that section of wall. She nodded to herself.

She thought loudly that she would like the door to the bedroom to reappear and was flummoxed when it failed to do so. She tried again, picturing the room clearly and specifically in her mind, but to no avail.

Maybe the room was one-time use or only appeared at night or, more likely, she wasn't recreating the exact circumstances under which it had appeared. However, she had been so distraught last night that she could hardly remember what she had done. Hermione's heart sank when she accepted that she couldn't re-enter the room, but she promised herself she would discover its secrets once she had found a way out of her current plight. She had a more important task.

She set off towards the library, pre-dawn light entering through every window she passed. She had just reached the library corridor when she was forced to hide behind a statue, jamming herself as far into the shadows as she could. A red-headed girl was standing facing away from her, her nose in a book, obviously waiting for someone. Hermione remained as still as she could until a boy with oily black hair came up behind the girl, tapping her on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry I'm late, it really is painfully early," he grimaced at her.

"Sev, you're the one who asked me to help you with your essay!" she laughed at him, lightly punching him on the shoulder.

"I know, I know, and I'm in your debt!" he said, laughing as well.

"Can I ask you again why you're even taking Muggle Studies?" she said.

The boy flushed deeply, giving life to his pallid complexion, but didn't answer.

"Alright, well, let's go in. We have a lot of work to do," the girl said, shaking her head and steering him towards the library doors.

Thankfully, as the door swung, Hermione could see that the pair headed in the opposite direction from Hermione's table.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione tiptoed to the library's entrance and tapped her wand twice against the door, precisely at eye level. A tiny hole appeared in the wood allowing her to peer into the library. The boy and girl were nowhere to be seen. Hermione pushed the door open and hurried back to her table, stopping only when she spotted a promising book. Reaching her nook, she let out a sigh of relief to see her things sitting exactly where she had left them.

She settled herself at the table and began flipping through the new text. She felt a thrill go through her when she found a descriptive chapter called "The Disillusionment Charm: Theory to Practice." Hermione expertly added the details to her previous notes.

She spent the next hour practicing, whispering the incantation and flicking her wand repeatedly at a spare quill until it took on the exact colour and texture of the table beneath it. She then began practicing on herself and in another two hours, she had mastered the charm.

She stood, looking down at her barely visible body and a bold notion entered her mind. It was breakfast time and her mouth was watering at the thought of the pastries undoubtedly sitting on the Gryffindor table at that moment. Could she slip into the Great Hall and nick some food without being noticed? She decided with a thrill, not unlike the one she had just felt while studying, that the only thing to do was try. Sirius might be at breakfast, she thought, and an utterly confusing feeling overcame her.

She pushed the thought firmly away and left the library, sliding slowly along the walls to avoid anyone bumping into her. She was pleased to know that no one she encountered seemed to see her and if a flicker did catch their eye, they only glanced toward her and then away.

Hermione entered the Great Hall and sidled slowly over to the table that appeared the most accessible, the Slytherin table. She glanced up and took an automatic step back when she saw the pale blond hair of Draco Malfoy. Looking again, she almost laughed at herself. The boy in front of her did bear a strong resemblance to Draco but was obviously his father, Lucius Malfoy, who Hermione had unfortunately met the previous year when he got into a fight with Mr. Weasley. He was sitting next to a mean looking boy with dark eyes and a very pretty girl with long blond hair.

Waiting until she judged that no one was looking in her direction, she grabbed a few pastries and pieces of fruit from the table and dropped them quickly into her robe pockets. She surreptitiously looked toward the Gryffindor table and immediately picked out Sirius finishing up breakfast and sitting between James and a boy with dreadlocks. She scolded herself for looking and turned to leave.

Flushed with her success, she had just returned to the library when she heard a loud group come in behind her. She flattened herself against a tall bookshelf as she watched Sirius, James, and two other boys walk into the library.

"Hurry, Padfoot, we're going to be late for Transfiguration," said one of the boys, who was tall with feathery brown hair and fresh cuts across his face. Professor Lupin, Hermione thought.

"Just because you fancy Professor McGonagall doesn't mean we always have to get there early and sit in the front row," prodded James.

The final boy who was no taller than Hermione and could only be Peter Pettigrew tittered loudly.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Moony, I just need to find my bag, I must've left it here last night," said Sirius.

The four boys turned the same corner that the boy, Sev, and red-haired girl had this morning. Hermione hesitated but couldn't help following them, remaining just a few steps behind.

"All right, Evans?" said James as they happened upon the pair who had apparently skipped breakfast. The boy and girl had both been bent over a piece of parchment but looked up when James spoke, a look of pure hatred on the boy's face.

"Potter," the girl acknowledged.

Sirius grabbed his bag from underneath the table he had been sitting at with Hermione and said "Prongs, let's go or else Moony is going to have a fit."

"One moment. Evans, are you staying at Hogwarts for Christmas? I didn't plan on it but if you are, I could change my plans," said James smoothly.

"No, and I'm looking forward to a solid fortnight without seeing you," the girl said with a smirk.

"Maybe I could come visit you then? I make a great first impression on parents," pushed James.

Evans grinned and shook her head, "You might but there's one problem...you haven't made a good impression on me."

"Come on -" James started to say but was cut off when Sev suddenly stood up.

"Lily does NOT want to be with you. She will NEVER want to be with you. . NOW BUGGER OFF," he yelled in James's face.

James had grown redder at every word out of the other boy's mouth. He whipped out his wand, aimed high, and yelled, "SECTUM -"

"James," said Sirius firmly and gave an annoyed shake of the head.

James lowered his wand looking incensed.

"Come on, Sev, let's get out of here," said Lily, glaring at James. She gathered up their things and pulled Sev by the arm around the corner and out of the library.

"Moony, Wormtail, go ahead to Transfiguration, we'll catch up with you," said Sirius. The other two boys left, Lupin looking tired and Pettigrew looking scandalized. Hermione had to dodge to the side to keep from being bowled over.

"Why did you stop me?" seethed James.

"Do you really think Lily will ever go out with you if you go around cursing her friends?" Sirius asked.

"You never have a problem with taking the piss out of Snivellus," argued James. "In fact, you used the Insect Jinx on him last week!"

"That curse isn't just taking the piss out of him," said Sirius. "It's just too bloody damn close to dark magic, Prongs, I hate it."

Hermione leaned forward to see the unusual intensity in Sirius's grey eyes.

"He used it on me!" James said indignantly.

"Exactly, mate, and I spent the entire night wondering how I would reanimate your corpse to play in the match the next day," Sirius said lightly, the severity abruptly fading from his eyes.

"Alive or dead, I could have beaten Ravenclaw," muttered James.

"I've no doubt." said Sirius with mock seriousness. "By the way, I'm going to stay at Hogwarts until the night before Christmas then I'll come to your place."

"Why?" asked James, caught off guard.

"I'm just so close to figuring out why we can't make full transformations. Moony is looking worse and worse these days," said Sirius quietly.

"I've noticed...do you need me to stay to help as well?" The concern was obvious on James's face.

"Nah, I reckon I just need a few days with no distractions. Plus, you know how your parents get. Can't wait to see ickle Jamsie," crooned Sirius.

"Cheers, mate," said James rolling his eyes. "But Mum is going to be furious that she'll have to wait till Christmas to start stuffing you with food."

"You can tell her that I promise to eat three times my usual portion, if you like," said Sirius sincerely.

"That will be quite a feat, I'll look forward to seeing it," James said laughing and looking down at his watch. "Bullocks, Professor McGonagall won't let us into class again if we're any later."

"And wouldn't that be a pity..." muttered Sirius but began moving towards the door with James in tow.


	6. Chapter 6

Hermione retreated to her table barely able to contemplate everything she had just learned. When the girl had looked up and her familiar green eyes were in full view, Hermione had known instantly that she was Harry's mother. She would recognize her best friend's eyes anywhere. But was the boy she was with…was it at all possible that the boy was Professor Snape? He had the same greasy black hair and hooked nose but, other than his blow up at James, he had seemed so light, so unburdened. His demeanor and the way he carried himself were vastly different than that of the adult Snape she knew. In his every glance at Lily, it was obvious that Snape had feelings for her; could the fact that she married James have made Snape the bitter, hateful man he was today? Could a crush in his teenage years and the loss of Lily change his very core so drastically? She didn't know. Although, she now knew why Snape treated Harry so cruelly - the son of the girl he cared for and his school enemy. She winced imagining Harry's reaction to these revelations about his parent's and Potions teacher's past.

And what had Sirius meant by "transformations"? Were they trying to transfigure themselves? How would that help Professor Lupin? If he was ill, as Sirius had mentioned last night, they should be taking him to Madam Pomfrey. Could he have some sort of magical ailment? She would have to do some research on illnesses in the magical world.

Hermione was also a little annoyed with herself for not knowing what curse James had been about to cast. She was abruptly ashamed for allowing her pride to even be a thought when there was so much else to consider. From Hermione's perspective though, she had been able to see that James's angle had been severely off. If Sirius hadn't stopped the spell, it would have soared clear over Snape's head. But what would that have accomplished?

The thing that Hermione was truly grappling with, however, was Sirius's obvious hatred of dark magic. How could a man destined to be a Death Eater, a term she had first come across in _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ , have despised it in his youth? How could he stop James from casting a curse when he would, not six years from now, use a curse to murder one of his best friends along with so many other innocents?

Hermione's head began to ache. She had no business trying to decipher the minds of the people of the past. She reminded herself for what felt like the thousandth time that her goal, her only goal, was to find a way back to her own time. Retrieving the nearly forgotten food from her pocket, she set off in search of literature on Time-Turners.

Hermione spent the next two days researching time magic, stealing into the Great Hall during meal times to nick food, and casting the Disillusionment Charm on herself to sleep in a tucked away cushioned window seat. She had decided to only cast the charm while sleeping and sneaking into the Great Hall; it would be far less suspicious for someone to come across an unremarkable girl hunched over books in the library than a quill seemingly moving of its own accord with no one in sight. Sirius was also in the library during large portions of the night and Hermione was careful to avoid him during those times. He did spot her once during the day as she had ventured out to look for another book, but she pointedly ignored him when he tried to speak to her. He had walked away looking heart-wrenchingly dejected.

After lunchtime on the second day, Hermione came across information she found to be both hopeful and disheartening - Eloise Mintumble's untimely demise. Hermione read that while the Ministry was conducting time experiments in 1899, Eloise became stuck in the year 1402. When she was finally recovered, her body was decayed and crippled, having aged almost five centuries. Hermione had theorized there may be a toll on the body when travelling forward and she was glad to find her idea proved. She was also overjoyed to see proof in black and white that she could travel forward in time. She remained at a loss, however, on how to preserve her body.

In addition, she had yet to find any information on repairing a Time-Turner and suspected she would find what she needed in the Restricted Section. She decided she would look at her first opportunity.

On the third day, as Hermione was creeping along the wall with dinner in her pockets, she came across a commotion in the Entrance Hall. A group of students ringed loosely around three boys: Sirius and across from him, the dark eyed boy Hermione had seen sitting next to Lucius Malfoy and another boy who looked just as mean.

"If you even look in this boy's direction one more time, Mulciber, I swear, I'll chuck my wand away and rip you apart with my bare hands," growled Sirius, his teeth bared in a feral grimace.

Hermione hadn't noticed but a tiny first year Ravenclaw cowered behind Sirius.

"We were just having a bit of fun, weren't we, Avery," said the dark eyed boy to his companion.

The boy called Avery leered.

Mulciber took a step toward Sirius and said "I didn't know you were so soft, Black. I'll write dad to tell your parents they need to toughen you up, he was just at their place last week."

Sirius spat on the ground. "I don't give a damn what you or those evil gits do."

Sirius was nudging the first year behind him with his foot. The boy seemed to come to and scampered away, disappearing into the crowd around them.

Sirius and the other two boys were advancing on each other when they were suddenly forcibly pushed apart.

"What is going on?" said the strict voice of Professor McGonagall as she was coming out of the Great Hall her wand raised.

When no one offered any information, McGonagall called "Everyone to your common rooms. Immediately. Most of you will need to be up early to get home for the Christmas holidays"

The crowd broke apart as everyone began moving toward bed. Sirius and the two Slytherins exchanged one more hate filled glance before leaving in opposite directions.

Hermione felt that irresistible pull again and followed Sirius, making sure not to bump anyone. She watched as he caught up to the first year boy on the staircase and took him aside.

"Oi, mate, are you alright?" Sirius asked.

"Ye-yes. Thank you. I don't know what they w-would have done if you hadn't come along," the boy stuttered.

"They're just a bunch of tossers. If they bother you again, let me, Potter, or Lupin know and we'll get it sorted," said Sirius.

The boy smiled gratefully.

"Well bugger off to your common room" Sirius said gruffly, "Or McGonagall will have US sorted."

The boy smiled at Sirius again and hurried off. Sirius mumbled "Bastards" to himself, turned, and headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione began slowly making her way back to the library. By the time she reached her usual spot, she had come to a conclusion. Whoever Sirius would become, whatever evil he would do, he was far, far from that person now.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day brought both anxiety and relief for Hermione. The beginning of the Christmas holidays meant that there would be far fewer people around, people who could potentially discover her, but it also meant that it would be more difficult to steal food. The chaos and hubbub of the Great Hall during meal times typically allowed her theft to go unnoticed, but the lack of people would make it far too obvious if food disappeared from the table. She decided to skip breakfast that morning, assuming that most remaining students would be having a lie in.

Her stomach growled loudly around noon and she was just getting her wand out to risk sneaking in for lunch when she heard someone come into the library. Full of both a strange hope and overwhelming dread, she peeked around the corner of a bookshelf.

Her heart hammered when she saw him. Sirius, whose hair looked particularly shaggy and unkempt, was ladened with books, bag, quill, and, Hermione's mouth began to water at the sight, a plate of sandwiches. Even burdened so, he seemed almost graceful. His movements were like that of an animal, controlled but with a sort of wildness that made him seem unpredictable.

"Mr. Black!" said a quiet but firm voice, causing Hermione to jerk out of her reverie.

"Yes, Madam Pince?" asked Sirius, too innocently, turning toward the librarian who was getting up from behind her desk.

"Food is forbidden in the library. Don't go expecting me to get slack just because it's the holidays," she chided.

"Of course, Madam Pince," he said apologetically.

Madam Pince waved her wand and the plate vanished.

"Don't forget the library's hours are shortened during break," she said as she headed back toward her desk.

Sirius smiled to himself and looked around for a table. Hermione didn't manage to pull her head back in time and his grey eyes fell upon her.

"Jane!" he called, striding in her direction.

Hermione whipped around and returned through the maze of shelves, hoping to lose him in the stacks. She could hear him behind her though and she hurried to sit at her table, attempting to look studious and unruffled.

"Please don't run away or ignore me again," he pleaded as he breathlessly came around the corner.

"I'm not ignoring you," Hermione said coldly, refusing to look up at him.

Disregarding her tone he said, "Well, good. May I join you then?"

When Hermione didn't say anything, he sat down at her table and added his things to the already full surface. From this close, his scent was overwhelming. He smelled wonderful, like fresh night air, books, and soap.

Sirius removed his bag from his shoulder and opened it, taking out a plate of sandwiches identical to the one Madam Pince had vanished.

"If you let teachers catch you with one harmless piece of contraband, they're usually satisfied and don't go around trying to catch you with another," he whispered conspiratorially and offered her the plate of food.

Hermione gave him a disapproving look but took two sandwiches.

"How come you're not home for the break?" he asked.

Hermione slowly chewed a bite of sandwich and kept pretending to read the book in front of her. She may have decided that young Sirius wasn't evil but that didn't mean she was free to chat with him, no matter how much every part of her wished to.

"Alright, alright. We don't have to talk. We can just study," he said comfortably, settling into his chair and arranging books and parchment in front of him.

They stayed like that for almost two hours. Hermione was too afraid to look up at him but her heart would begin to race each time their knees accidentally bumped underneath the table.

Finally, Sirius let out an exasperated sigh, pushing the book he was reading away from him. Hermione's eyes, not quite making it to his face, fell upon the books and papers in front of him.

Unable to stop herself she blurted "You're trying to become an animagus?"

Sirius smiled at her, "Trying being the operative word. None of us seem to be able to make full transformations and I just can't find what we're missing."

Hermione's academic interest overcame her.

"What have you done so far?" she asked, unaware that she leaned toward him.

"We soaked mandrake leaves in our mouths for a month, put them into a phial at the full moon, added the other ingredients, spoke the incantation at sunrise and sunset until an electrical storm and then spoke the incantation and drank the potion!" rattled off Sirius, "It took us loads of time because Peter kept accidentally swallowing his leaf. Plus, finding a Death's-head Hawk Moth proved near impossible."

"Did you 'put' them in the phial or spit them into the phial?"

Sirius's mouth fell open and it took him a few moments to recover himself.

"That's just semantics!" he exclaimed.

"No, it isn't, don't you see? Taking the leaves out of your mouths with your fingers counts as "removing" the leaf, which voids the time. It has to go directly from your mouth into the phial with the hair, dew, and moth. The texts all specifically say 'spit'."

Sirius stared at her for what seemed liked an eternity and then abruptly burst into peals of laughter. Sirius's laugh was wonderful and infectious and Hermione couldn't help laughing with him.

"That is the LAST time I let Pettigrew copy out instructions," Sirius said, tears of laughter still in his eyes. "If you hadn't been here and I hadn't trusted you with our big secret," he continued, emphasizing the last two words, "we might have all just been wandering around as half animals forever; Potter's antlers hitting door frames and me tripping over my paws."

Hermione suddenly thought of something, "Is that why you call James 'Prongs'?"

Sirius nodded, appearing to have completely recovered from his bout of hysteria. "We gave each other nicknames based on the first animal part to appear: my paws, James's antlers, and Peter's tail."

"What about Prof- er, Lupin?" Hermione asked.

He gave her an odd look but said evasively, "Oh, he's had the name Moony for ages."

Sirius sat back in his chair, ran his fingers through his hair, and let out a loud sigh, "Blimey, I can't believe we have to re-do the whole process. It shouldn't take nearly as long though, we still have a lot of leftover ingredients."

Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Why do you all want to be animagi so badly?"

Sirius laughed lightly, "Who wouldn't want to roam around the grounds, getting into all sorts of mischievous and generally being uncivilized?"

Hermione thought she could think of one person. "So I assume your band of assorted animal marauders won't be registering as animagi?" She definitely would have noticed when she looked up the Animagus Registry if Harry's father or Sirius Black was listed.

"Marauders, huh, I like it," said Sirius almost to himself. He grinned at her, "How do you expect us to get away with anything if our names are plastered all over some registry?"

"I think that's precisely the point of the registry actually, so you can't get away with anything," she said. It suddenly struck Hermione that the adult Sirius might have used his animal form to sneak into the castle. She doubted it would have helped him much, however. Protective spells and detection spells would still identify him as a wizard. He may have been able to get into the castle once, but he wouldn't be able to do it again with the added security. She felt confident in Dumbledore's ability to protect Harry.

"Exactly. So we won't be bothering with anything like that." Sirius's face grew contemplative as he studied her face. "What made you change your mind about me? You ran away when you learned my name and have ignored me since."

Hermione felt a flush creeping up her cheeks as his gaze remained fixed on her. "Oh, err, well you stopped James from using that curse and I saw you rescue the first year from those Slytherins-"

Sirius held up a hand. "Two things. First, James wasn't really going to curse Snivellus. He was aiming over his head. But newly invented spells tend to bounce around and James can be such a hothead, I knew he wasn't thinking about that. Don't tell him though, James's ego may appear resilient but it can be rather fragile." A grin quirked the edge of his mouth, "Second, have you been spying on me?"

"You really care about James, don't you?" she asked, trying to distract him from his last question.

"Sure, he's my best mate," he said and then paused. "He gave me a family when mine turned out to be rubbish. He made me feel like I could be good, like I could be a Gryffindor despite everything." He blinked, seeming shocked that he had just shared that information. He cleared his throat, visibly regaining his composure, and said "So, about you spying on me?"

Hermione knew her blush was deepening significantly but she rolled her eyes and said "Honestly.." with as much of her usual firmness and derision as possible. "I just spend a lot of time in the library and that fight in the Great Hall wasn't exactly secret."

Sirius's eyes sparkled. "I have only seen you in the library..other than when James ran into you." Suddenly, his face lit up with an idea. "How come you know so much about becoming an Animagus? Are you one?"

"No, I just read a lot," she admitted sheepishly.

"I like that in a woman," Sirius said sincerely.

At that moment, Hermione didn't believe it was possible for a person to be any redder. Her whole body felt as if it was tingling. Their eyes were abruptly locked on one another and she resisted the urge to move closer and run her fingers through his hair. It felt like every part of her was begging to touch every part of him.

She ripped her eyes away, trying to focus on the book she'd been reading what felt like a very long time ago.

"So I guess now that I solved your puzzle, you won't need to be here any longer." she mumbled.

"We actually have another project we're working on," he said quickly. "I'll continue with that until Christmas."

Hermione felt ridiculously relieved and then immediately annoyed with herself. What was she doing?

Under the table, Sirius's knee touched hers and remained there. They continued working like that until Madam Pince came to tell them that the library was closing.


	8. Chapter 8

As Madam Pince walked away, Sirius asked "Fancy seeing if dinner is out yet? Those sandwiches weren't much of a lunch."

Hermione, who had been pretending to rummage in her bag to avoid Madam Pince's notice, looked up and said a little too quickly "No thank you, I'm not hungry." She hoped her stomach wouldn't rumble and give her away.

Sirius looked a little disappointed but said "How about a walk around the grounds then?"

Hermione exclaimed "It's freezing outside!" If she was honest with herself, she would like nothing more than to spend as much time with Sirius as she could. She was terrified of changing the past and even more terrified of the man Sirius would become, but her own actions today had proved that she had already made a decision; she wouldn't fight the overpowering force that seemed to pull her toward him.

"We can use a warmth charm or a bluebell flame," Sirius said shrugging.

Hermione couldn't think of any reason to argue. "Okay, why don't you go and have dinner and I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall in half an hour."

Sirius grinned at her, his eyes lingering on her face, and began gathering up his things. He stood and gave a mock salute to the portrait of the sleeping wizard. "His snoring is strangely pleasant," he told her in a whisper before heading toward the library's exit.

Hermione sat for a few moments, marveling at her own recklessness and stupidity. Tonight, she decided, she would sneak into the Restricted Section and finish gathering all the information she needed to get back to her own time. She had not gotten much done today; the closeness of Sirius had made it so she had to reread the same sentence multiple times before being able to glean any meaning from it. She had, however, discovered something potentially pivotal to her return. She had been researching methods to freeze her body in order to counteract the aging effects of traveling forward in time. She had discovered that the Full Body-Bind curse she used on Neville in their first year not only bound a person's limbs, but also froze the body while still allowing for cognition. She would need to do further research to confirm this information, however.

Hermione would also have to learn to use non-verbal spells to be able to unfreeze herself once back in her own time. It worried Hermione that she couldn't make herself mind the additional time learning such difficult magic would take.

Her stomach turned over when she realized she would see Sirius again in less than thirty minutes. Somehow, walking around the grounds felt much more significant than studying together.

Hermione suddenly wondered what she must look like. With two male best friends and a keener interest in knowledge than makeup, she never really worried about her appearance.

She hurriedly gathered up her things, placed them under the table, and cast an efficient Disillusionment Charm on everything. She waited until Madam Pince had disappeared behind a bookshelf before leaving the library and practically running to the nearest bathroom.

Once Hermione was standing in front the mirror, however, she was at a loss. She had never used the more intense grooming spells that most of the girls in her year used and now didn't seem like a good time to try. She did what she could, splashing water on her face and attempting to tame her hair with her fingers.

She made a face at herself in the mirror before stepping outside to find Sirius already waiting for her by the tall oak doors, a goblet in one hand and a few dinner rolls in the other. His face seemed to light up when he saw her and Hermione couldn't help smiling widely in return, her heart fluttering in her chest.

"I reckon we can use this for the bluebell," Sirius said gesturing with the goblet. "And I brought these in case you changed your mind," he said offering her the rolls.

"I don't really think you're supposed to take tableware from the Great Hall," Hermione scolded, taking the rolls from his hand. She felt a thrill where their fingers touched.

"We're only borrowing it," Sirius said laughing. "You're a mystery, Jane Puckle. I can't quite suss out if you break rules or love rules.

Hermione considered. "A bit of both, actually." She felt odd continuing to lie to him about her name but knowing it was necessary, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

Sirius stopped and looked into her eyes, a slight smile on his lips. After a few moments, Hermione could feel her cheeks beginning to burn and she looked down, breaking their gaze.

"Well..shall we?" Sirius asked with a slight tremor in his voice, sweeping his arm in the direction of the doors.

Hermione nodded and they pushed the doors open. She almost gasped when the chill air hit her cheeks and stung her eyes. Sirius said a few quiet words and pointed his wand into the goblet. The air around them became significantly warmer as the blue flame materialized in the cup. Hermione couldn't help but admire the skill with which the spell was cast but decided she wouldn't mention it.

"Warm enough?" Sirius asked glancing over at her.

"I'll manage," she said with a smile.

As they began heading toward the lake Sirius asked, "You never told me, why aren't you home for break? Trouble with family?"

"You say that like you have experience. You had mentioned something earlier…" Hermione trailed off.

Sirius threw his hands up. "You are dead set against answering any questions about yourself, aren't you?"

When Hermione only looked at him, Sirius sighed. "My family and I...we're very different. They're big believers in the pure-blood nonsense and I'm ashamed to say, they think Voldemort has got it right."

Hermione flinched but realized You-Know-Who's name may not have yet gained the stigma it carried in her time.

Sirius's voice grew hard and almost frightening as he said "I hate them. I hate Voldemort and I hate them." His fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides. He looked at her and his anger seemed to fade in an instant. He grinned and said "I've found little ways to irk them through the years. I plastered my love of Gryffindor and muggle motorbikes all over my room. I keep bringing television sets into the house to watch muggle programming in the sitting room. I charmed all of their bed linens to alternate between red and gold... But I haven't been there in a while and I don't plan on going back. Mrs. Potter said I could move in with them this summer. And then when school is over, Prongs and I will become Aurors and probably get a flat with Wormtail and Moony." Sirius looked abruptly elated. "My mother will most likely blast me from the family tree, she has a habit of doing that."

Hermione was shocked at Sirius's little speech and, for the thousandth time, wondered what tragic event, what soul-crushing thing must have happened to make this brave, ambitious boy into the murderous Death-Eater he would become.

"Now that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself," Sirius said flippantly, "How about telling me something about yourself. What do you want to do after Hogwarts?"

"I want to do something important. Something that will really help the world. I haven't quite figured out what yet, that's a big reason why I read so much," Hermione said shyly.

As they continued walking, Hermione tried to answer Sirius's questions as truthfully as possible and Sirius relayed stories of his and James's many, and sometimes brilliant, pranks. Hermione found herself laughing loudly with him despite herself. At some point during their long walk, Sirius's hand closed around hers and warmth spread throughout her body.


	9. Chapter 9

It was near midnight before the cold became too much for Hermione, despite the Bluebell flame and the heat that seemed to emanate from their joined hands. She and Sirius slipped back into the castle through the oak doors, making sure that no one was around.

"May I walk you to your common room, madam witch?" whispered Sirius grinning and offering her the crook of his arm. His cheeks were pink with cold and his eyes were bright; in that moment, he was so unbearably handsome that it made Hermione feel almost sad.

"Actually, I'm afraid that I forgot something in the library. I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked trying not to sound too eager.

"Of course," Sirius said as if there was no question. "But I don't mind waiting for you to get your stuff."

"No," she said a little too quickly. "I'm fine going it alone, really."

Sirius looked taken aback but stepped toward her and said in a low voice "Jane, I...I don't know what it is but I feel like I can tell you anything. Honestly, I haven't ever been interested in something serious. Lily is brilliant but I never understood James's singular obsession with her. But you...you're…" Sirius seemed frustrated with his unusual struggle to find words. He gave up. "Well, anyway, I just feel that maybe I understand it now I've met you."

Hermione felt as if her heart was both breaking and remaking itself at the same time. Sirius took her hand, squeezed it once, and before she could even look up, his hand was gone from hers and he was halfway up the marble staircase.

A storm of indecipherable emotions was rising up in Hermione and, without really seeing, she began to make her way back to the library. When Hermione reached the nook that she was beginning to consider home, she took a deep breath. She had made a promise to herself that she would venture into the Restricted Section tonight to find information on repairing the Time-Turner and she would do it, despite the emotion that was making her hands shake.

Being extra cautious, Hermione cast the Disillusionment Charm on herself before lifting the rope and entering the section of the library that she had been in only once before. She searched for hours, trying to deduce as much information from the spines of the wildly differently sized books as possible; Harry had told her once about a book that screamed when opened. As the night turned into early morning, Hermione began to truly wonder for the first time what she would do if she was unable to find the information that would allow her to return to her own time. At that point, would it be worth risking the future by revealing her situation to a younger Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall? Would she be able to carve out some sort of life in the past? Hermione couldn't stop the thought before it came into her mind: a life with Sirius? Hermione couldn't believe the absurd thought. The repercussions of such a thing would be catastrophic at best and besides, she would miss her family, Harry, and Ron dreadfully. In the back of her mind, however, Hermione couldn't help the small part of her that wished for infinite time with Sirius.

In the end, Hermione found what she was looking for by shear luck. She pulled out an unmarked, maroon tome from a bookshelf, simply because it looked interesting, and hefted it to the ground. She held her breath and carefully lifted the front cover. She sighed in relief when the book made no response and as she spotted the title of the book, her heart gave a hopeful leap: _The Making of Powerful Magical Objects_.

Hermione ran her finger down the index, unable to stop herself from making mental notes to look at chapters on objects she knew little or nothing about. She noticed that the book included both individual magical objects as well as those relatively mass produced. She let out a soft cheer when her finger slid across "XLIII. Time Turners." Hermione began flipping through pages and paused to read about the making of the Goblet of Fire which, she found, was an object used during a tournament between magical schools. She promised herself she would look up the details of the Triwizard Tournament at a later time.

Hermione continued flipping to a chapter on the making of objects called Horcruxes. She was startled to find only a single sentence on the page: "Horcruxes are born from the darkest of magics and will not be discussed here." Hermione wondered why they would even include it in the book in that case. She was curious but she sent it from her mind to read about the making of Pensieves and a few other rarer objects. Finally, she turned to the chapter on Time Turners and spent the next few hours in careful study. Hermione looked up from the book believing she could recreate the Time Turner from the pieces of the broken one still in her bag and charm it correctly to allow her to return home. She felt elated at her discovery but also felt a creeping devastation that had everything to do with a certain dark haired, gray eyed boy.

With difficulty, Hermione placed the heavy book back in its place on the shelving and creeped out of the Restricted Section to her cushioned window seat. She was able to sleep for a while before sitting up suddenly, feeling wide awake at the thought of seeing Sirius again soon.

By the time Sirius found her with lunch for them to share, Hermione already had notes of a few failed attempts at recreating the Time Turner hidden in a notebook in her bag. She was reading the theory behind non-verbal magic when he sat down at the table. Hermione looked up at him smiling and noted that the vulnerability in his eyes from the night before had disappeared and was replaced with his usual casual, joking manner.

They spent the next three days following the routine they seemed to have established in an unspoken agreement; they studied during the day and walked around the grounds at night. Hermione was grateful that Sirius seemed to sense she wanted to avoid the Great Hall and regularly brought food for them to eat in the library and as they walked. Hermione discovered during this time that Sirius was working on a map of Hogwarts. Although the basis of the map had been done with his friends, there was still complex spell work left that Sirius tackled with unending energy. Hermione also broke down and admitted that she was working on non-verbal magic which Sirius was all too eager to learn with her.

It was on Christmas Eve, the night before he was to go to the Potters, that Sirius finally kissed her. They were standing with the goblet of Bluebell flame next to them in the grass and as close to the Whomping Willow as they dared, engaged in a lively discussion about Polyjuice Potion. A freezing wind whipped through the grass and Hermione shivered violently. Sirius stepped forward automatically, his hands reaching to warm her shoulders. When his hands made contact with her arms, however, electricity seemed to shoot through Hermione's entire body and she looked down in embarrassment. Sirius's fingers cupped her chin and lifted her face to his as he bent down to place his mouth carefully on hers. An unexpected bravery swept over Hermione and she stepped farther into his embrace, pulling him closer to her. She deepened the kiss and his hands weaved into her hair. When they finally broke apart, they were both breathless. Sirius, a mischievous grin on his face, took her hand and lead her into the trees of the Forbidden Forest.


	10. Chapter 10

Hermione and Sirius lay side by side on the forest floor, Sirius's robes spread beneath them. The brilliant, winter night sky visible through the branches of the trees was breathtaking but Hermione couldn't help glancing sideways at Sirius's hand closed around hers and at Sirius himself. Clad in the fitted gray jumper and pants of the school uniform, Sirius looked lean and muscular. He had just finished telling her about a time when he and James had hexed a boy called Bertram Aubrey because he had been making fun of a girl in their class. They were both laughing at Sirius's reenactment of James's indignant rant during their subsequent detention and Sirius turned his head to meet her gaze, his eyes dancing.

Hermione abruptly stopped laughing as a heavy weight seemed to settle on her chest. She sat up and pulled her hand from his, her heart pounding.

"Jane?" Sirius asked, sitting up too and putting a warm hand on her back.

"That's not my name," Hermione whispered.

"I'm sorry? I didn't hear you," Sirius said gently.

"That's not my name," Hermione said a little louder. "Well it is, just my middle name. I'm called Hermione and I'm not who you think I am."

Now that they had kissed and Hermione had acknowledged to herself the true magnitude of what she felt for Sirius, she knew she could no longer deceive him.

Sirius's brow furrowed. "You're not a Hogwarts student? How could that be possible?"

"I am…" she said slowly.

"I know you're not actually a Ravenclaw wearing a Gryffindor's uniform. I sussed that out on my own. Is this going to explain why I've never seen you before a week ago?"

Sirius had removed his hand from her back and Hermione's whole body felt much colder than it had just a few minutes ago.

"Yes," Hermione said. "I'm a Gryffindor. But I'll become a Gryffindor in about 18 years."

Sirius continued looking at her impatiently, waiting for her to explain.

"Well, you see, Professor McGonagall gave me a Time-Turner so I could take all the classes that I wanted but I feel asleep and it smashed and it must have been defective because I woke up here, in the past. I've been trying to work out how to get back to my own time and I think I've got a pretty good plan. All I have to do is finish fixing the Time-Turner and perfect my non-verbal magic," Hermione said in a rush.

"Blimey," Sirius breathed. "But Time-Turners don't allow time travel greater than 5 hours in the past. Potter and I have looked into it for...something."

"That's only a Ministry restriction. The charm, as I said, must have been defective. I was also thinking about when the Whomping Willow was planted at the time I fell asleep. I can only guess that had something to do with it."

Sirius looked into her eyes, fascinated. Suddenly, his face crumpled.

"So...you'll have to return to your own time. How far in the future did you say?" Sirius asked.

"1993," Hermione whispered, tears beginning to prick the back of her eyes.

"Blimey," Sirius said again.

Realizing Hermione was beginning to cry, Sirius pulled her into his chest and held her there for minutes on end as tears streaked down her face and fell into his lap.

Sirius laughed suddenly and Hermione pulled away to look at his face, surprised.

"It's not really funny," he said. "This just explains why you never wanted to go to the Great Hall and why I only ever saw you alone in the library."

Hermione looked down sheepishly. "I've been sleeping there," she admitted.

Sirius, his arms still around her, squeezed her around the shoulders and kissed her hair.

"1993, that would make me...around 34 in your time," Sirius said with a wince. A small smile pulled up the corner of his mouth. "You haven't heard of me have you? Am I famous Auror? Did I single-handedly defeat Voldemort or did Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail help a bit?"

Hermione began to tremble, feeling her heart crack open and trying not to let it show on her face. In the past three days with Sirius, Hermione had almost managed to forget his future but now it came crashing back. She wished vehemently that Sirius had been furious with her when he learned the truth so she wouldn't have to answer his questions. She suspected it would have also made goodbyes a lot easier.

"Hermione? I was only joking," Sirius prompted.

Hearing her name from his lips made Hermione's devastation worsen and she felt the tears begin to fall again in earnest.

"I mustn't tell you... I should have never spoken to you in the first place. I've put everyone in danger. I've been stupid and reckless. I've no idea what consequences will come of this," Hermione managed to get out between quiet sobs.

Sirius seemed to consider that for a moment before taking her face in his hands. "I don't care. I'm glad you did. Nothing would ever make me regret meeting you."

Hermione shook her head. "You don't know what you're talking about," she said brokenly.

"I do," he replied and kissed her firmly.

Sirius broke their kiss to say with a smile, "I know you can't answer any of my questions but just know that I have about a thousand."

Hermione allowed herself a small smile as well. "If I were you, I think I would have about 10 times that."

They lay back down against the earth, Hermione's head settling on Sirius's chest. They lay for a while in silence before Sirius let out a frustrated noise.

"I reckon I have the worst luck in the world. The perfect girl for me is some ephemeral goddess from the future."

Hermione couldn't help herself and let out a giggle. She didn't think she had ever giggled once in her life.

"Hermione, I think that I lo-"

Hermione reached up and put her hand against his mouth.

"Please don't say it," she begged. "Me, as well. But please don't say it."

Sirius nodded and they settled back. Between the warmth of Sirius's body and the bluebell flame beside them, Hermione felt comfortable and sleepy for the moment. Soon, they were both fast asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione woke to a soft kiss on the cheek and opened her eyes to the sad face of Sirius Black.

"Happy Christmas, future girl," he whispered to her. She gazed at him until suddenly, she jumped up, realizing that the sunrise was illuminating his fair skin .

"What time is it? You should be at the Potters!"

"Rubbish," he replied. "I'm not wasting a moment with you."

"Sirius, please, I've already upset the timeline enough. If I wasn't here, nothing would keep you from being with them today!" Hermione exclaimed feeling oddly. Sirius was about to spend Christmas with James and his parents, an experience that Harry would never know. Hermione let herself wonder, not for the first time, about Harry's paternal grandparents who would both die only a little more than a year before their son.

Sirius, misreading the desperation in her eyes, sighed and stood up too. He bent down to pick up the robe they had been laying on and brushed it off.

"All right," he said. "But I'll be back tonight."

"No," Hermione said firmly. "You'll stay until at least tomorrow."

Sirius tried to hide his smile at her tone and glanced affectionately at the hand she had placed unconsciously on her hip.

She relaxed and smiled too, saying apologetically, "I'll just be working on getting home. You won't miss anything other than my failed attempts at un-freezing myself."

"Anyway," she added without thinking, "Won't Euphemia be furious with you if you leave early?"

Sirius froze as Hermione realized her mistake.

"Now how would you know James's mum's name?" Sirius asked slowly.

"No reason," she said quickly, "I just looked them up when Harry-"

Hermione abruptly cut herself off, unable to believe she had messed up so badly twice in a row.

Sirius, his quick mind never far off from thoughts of his best friend, whispered to himself, "Harry…"

He looked up at her, his eyes wide. "James always says he would name his son Harry, after his grandfather Henry. You..you know James's son in the future?"

Hermione cringed. "Please, Sirius, I made a mistake. I can't tell you anything. Please, forget I said that."

Sirius, looking excited and flabbergasted, shook his head. "So you know James's son! Does that mean you've met James in the future? Who does he marry? Don't tell me he actually convinces Evans to go out with him. Have you gone to their -"

Sirius stopped mid-sentence and looked at her sharply.

"Have you met me in the future?"

"No, no, Sirius," she pleaded, feeling almost nauseated. "I haven't. You're jumping to conclusions."

"You haven't met James or I?" Sirius confirmed.

"No," Hermione said, the truth plain in her eyes.

"All right," he allowed. "But, please, tell me who Harry's mother is."

"Sirius…"

Sirius held his hand in the air. "I pledge to you, I will not tell him."

Hermione sighed, seeing in the stubborn set of his face that he wouldn't let this go.

"You absolutely can not tell him and you can never mention this again," she said and took a deep breath. "….Lily Evans."

Sirius gave a loud whoop for his friend.

"Don't forget what you promised!" Hermione shushed him.

Sirius tried to school his giddy expression into something trustworthy. "I don't break pledges."

"Well, all right, now, let's get you back up to the castle," she said, trying to herd him in that direction. "You mustn't be later than you already are."

"If I'm not here at Hogwarts though, however will I sabotage your preparations to leave me?" he wondered in mock-concern, not moving a muscle.

"I suppose you'll just have to let me go," Hermione said thoughtlessly. She realized immediately what she'd done, as the light seemed to leave Sirius's face and he looked down at the forest floor.

'I'm sorry," she whispered, stepping closer and taking his hand.

He shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry for," he said with a forced smile and kissed the tip of her nose.

They walked hand-in-hand but silently back to the castle; Sirius's glee was apparently long gone at the mention of her imminent departure. As they drew closer to the castle, Hermione realized for the first time since she woke that it was bitterly cold.

Making sure not to run into any early holidaymakers, Hermione walked with Sirius all the way to Professor McGonagall's office which had been placed on the Floo Network for students travelling only for Christmas day.

They stopped in front of the door and Sirius turned to her, his eyes unyielding.

"Hermione. Do not go back to your own time until I've returned. Or else in 18 years I'll...I'll write to Hogwarts and instruct them to give you a detention. They'll have to listen to me as head of the British Auror Office."

Hermione smiled weakly at his probing expression.

"Sirius, I would never leave without saying a proper goodbye."

"Swear it."

Mimicking Sirius's earlier pledge, Hermione held up a hand solemnly. "I swear it."

Sirius nodded, satisfied. He brushed a stray curl away from her face and placed his hand on her cheek, still cold from the outside air. His gray eyes searched her own.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," he said.

"Tomorrow," she repeated.

Sirius gave her one last long look before disappearing behind the office door. Hermione rushed back to the library, a sense of urgency overtaking her. She felt that if she let her mind stray from her task even a little, she would be overcome with despair. How could she have let this happen? How could she have let this impossible love take her over? She had fallen, irrevocably, for a boy from the past with a doomed future. And even worse, she had let slip information about Harry!

Hermione set her jaw and prepared for her return until the small hours of the next morning. When she finally lay down to sleep on the window seat cushion of the Hogwarts library of 1975, she knew it would be for the last time.


	12. Chapter 12

Hermione woke some hours later but kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She dreaded what she would have to do and she wanted to savor the world in which the most handsome and compelling boy she would ever meet cared for her. Every place that Sirius had touched or kissed seemed to burn her skin.

 _No,_ she thought savagely to herself _, this isn't your time or your Hogwarts. He was never yours to keep._

Hermione forced her eyes open and sat up deliberately. The sun shone through the panes of the library window off a new layer of snow on the grounds, momentarily blinding her. Hermione took a steadying breath and picked herself up off the seat cushion. Going to her study table, she took her bag from the chair, subconsciously touching the newly repaired Time-Turner that once again hung around her neck. She put the heavy bag on her shoulder and left the library, setting off toward the bathroom on the seventh floor.

Having freshened up and successfully dropped off her bag in her favorite stall, Hermione was walking back through the library doors when she spotted Sirius sitting with his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking.

"Sirius?" Hermione asked with concern.

Sirius's head jerked up and his eyes, red with panic and grief, met hers.

"I thought you'd gone," he breathed, jumping up and striding toward her.

He gathered her up in an embrace and pressed her tightly into his chest, his clean scent overtaking her.  
"Bloody hell, I thought you'd gone," he growled again into her hair.

"I said I wouldn't," Hermione said softly.

He pulled back and kissed her fiercely, taking her by surprise.

"Good. I'll admit I was feeling a bit miffed thinking that you had," Sirius said, his eyes returning to their normal breath-taking grey.

"What's this?" he asked, feeling for the Time Turner that was pressed between them.

Hermione looked away from his face as he studied it.

"Ah," he sighed. "I see you've got it all sorted here."

She nodded, looking back at him. "I'm ready."

Sirius slowly let her go.

"Are you sure? What if you stayed for just a few more days? A month, maybe a year, at the most?"

"Sirius...If I don't leave now, I never will," she whispered.

Sirius nodded to himself and straightened to his full height. "Where are we doing this?"

"I've already taken my bag to the girl's room on the seventh floor; it's where I typically do my time travelling," she said, almost smiling.

Sirius's eyebrows went up in amusement but he said, "To the loo, then."

They reached the seventh floor corridor without incident, Sirius only hesitating a moment outside the door the girl's bathroom. As he entered behind Hermione, he cast an appraising eye around at the stalls.

"Bit cleaner than the bloke's one. Still an odd place to partake in an emotional farewell."

Hermione smiled in spite of herself. "Actually, a lot of big events in my life have taken place in one of these," she said, thinking of the fight with the ogre in first year and the incident with the Polyjuice Potion last year.

Sirius suddenly stepped toward her, grabbing her hands.

"There's so much that I don't know about you and I can't tell you how much I want to hear about everything that's happened to you in a bathroom."

Hermione giggled and Sirius rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."

His eyes grew serious again.

"Hermione…"

Hermione stopped his words with a kiss. She closed her eyes, trying to memorize the feeling of his mouth on hers. She drew away from him before her desperation to stay in that moment forever became too apparent.

Sirius swallowed.

"But, really, Hermione.."

Hermione shushed him quietly and held a finger to his lips.

He furrowed his brows in a question.

"I think I hear someone coming, will you go check?" Hermione whispered.

Sirius gave her a strange look but nodded and headed to the door.

Hermione slid her wand from her robe pocket and slowly pointed it at the back of his head.

Just as Sirius stepped over the threshold, Hermione whispered "Obliviate."

She saw Sirius stop in confusion, his shaggy hair falling into his face, as the door swung shut behind him. She waited for long moments with her breath held until she heard his footsteps moving away down the corridor. Hermione backed up until she could feel the solid wall of the bathroom behind her and slid down it to sit with her knees close against her chest. She could feel the tears falling down her cheeks but felt somehow apart from the sensation. Hermione knew she had done the right thing but she felt as though a vital part of her had been ripped from her chest. She clutched at what had to be only a quarter of her once whole heart.

After what seemed like hours, Hermione was able to drag herself from the damp floor. She mechanically opened the door to the stall where her bag still sat and slid the lock into place behind her. She fumbled for the Time-Turner and began turning it, barely feeling it in her fingers. Before she began to come apart though, she pointed her wand into her chest and choked out, "Petrificus Totalus."

Hermione jolted as her limbs froze in place but remained conscious as time advanced quickly before her eyes. Finally, she felt time and her own molecules settle around her and she knew she was back in 1993, only minutes after she had left.

Hermione's hand still held her wand pointed toward herself. She concentrated hard, focusing on the connection to her wand and spoke the counter-curse clearly in her mind.

Relief coursed through her as she was released from the Full Body Bind Curse. Hermione quickly examined her body and felt a distant sense of satisfaction that she had not aged noticeably on the outside. Inside, however, she felt as though she had lived for years in the space of the few days with Sirius. Hermione stood for a time, feeling only empty, before unlocking the stall and hurrying to her next lesson.


	13. Epilogue

DECEMBER

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood huddled together in Honeydukes as Harry finished telling the other two about the Marauder's Map. Hermione's heart was beating fast as a thousand thoughts and feelings fractured her into a pieces. One very small part of her felt pride at the precision of her memory modifying charm; Sirius had remembered that she had called the four boys "marauders" but not Hermione herself. A much larger part of her, however, was in a panic. Young Sirius had made the map, therefore, adult Sirius knew all of the secret passageways revealed on it. Maybe if Harry turned it in, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore could close them.

In the end though, Hermione couldn't convince Harry or Ron of the danger without revealing what was now her biggest secret. She comforted herself with the knowledge that Professor Lupin knew of the passages as well; surely, he would tell Professor Dumbledore. Hermione had deduced that Lupin was a werewolf less than a week after returning from the past and felt that Lupin's loyalty to the man who welcomed him to Hogwarts as a student and later a teacher would override any lingering loyalty to the criminal Sirius. She was thinking despairingly that the secrets she was keeping from her best friends would eat her alive as the three entered the Three Broomsticks.

Neither Ron nor Harry noticed her despondency as she sat with Harry and Ron brought them drinks. Hermione roused herself enough, though, to join Ron in pushing Harry under the table and moving a Christmas tree to block them when a group of professors and the Minister of Magic walked in to the pub.

Listening to the conversation taking place amongst the teachers, Madam Rosmerta, and the Minister, Hermione once again felt such a mix of emotions that she couldn't sort them out properly. She felt relieved that a bit of the knowledge that she had been agonizing over telling Harry was now revealed to him, but she was also devastated at the toll it would take on her friend. Hermione was not surprised to find that Sirius had been James and Lily's secret keeper or that Sirius had been named Harry's godfather, but every part of her still rebelled at the idea that Sirius could have murdered Peter Pettigrew or betrayed James and Lily. _But how could all of these facts be wrong?_ she asked herself. She tried to squash a feeling of strange defensiveness when Hagrid yelled that Sirius was a traitor. Then, as the Minister finished his story of visiting Sirius in Azkaban, an almost comforting thought came to Hermione. Maybe Sirius had simply been driven mad perhaps due to torture by You-Know-Who, despite what Fudge surmised about Sirius's appearance of sanity. The boy she loved simply couldn't exist in that man anymore.

Hermione wasn't able to sleep that night, her stomach ached and tears streamed relentlessly on to her pillow. The next morning, as she and Ron attempted to dissuade Harry from seeking Sirius out, Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that she was trying to protect Sirius just as much as Harry.

JANUARY

Hermione lay curled in a ball in her bed, shaking uncontrollably. Sirius had gotten into Gryffindor tower and nearly killed Ron. She deserved Ron and Harry barely speaking to her, she deserved the overwhelming stress of her classes, maybe she even deserved to lose Hagrid's case for Buckbeak…

JUNE

Hermione's heart stopped and her breath caught at the sight of him. Sirius looked ghastly, his shaggy hair falling down his back and his previously lively, gorgeous gray eyes sunken and dull. His voice though, slightly more mature and hoarse, brought a hundred memories crashing down that she had been trying to push away for months and maybe it was that which made her rasp "No, Harry!" as he leapt toward his godfather.

Hermione could only watch and scream as Harry and Sirius struggled, only managing a kick toward them both when it seemed the older version of the boy she loved more than anything would choke her best friend to death.

She watched, unable to move, as Harry leveled his wand at his father's best friend, until she heard a noise somewhere below them.

She yelled, desperately trying to do anything that she could to save two people she loved dearly from becoming murderer and murdered.

When Professor Lupin entered the room, it was all she could do not to fall to the floor with relief. He would put things right, she assured herself. But when Lupin pulled Sirius into a hug, Hermione knew she was to blame for what would happen next. She had so foolishly, naively believed Lupin was good with no doubt whatsoever. She had thought Lupin was telling Dumbledore everything she couldn't and helping prevent Sirius from entering the castle. Rage, guilt, and self-hatred welled up in her as she screamed her disbelief.

Hermione listened as Lupin told them everything she already knew about the map, unable to stop herself from glancing continuously at Sirius. She was sneaking another look at him when Lupin said "Peter Pettigrew" and everything clicked into place. Suddenly she could see the perfect boy shining through the skeletal man.

"Ridiculous," she said to herself, unable to believe she hadn't thought of it before. It was Pettigrew who had betrayed Lily and James and Sirius had been trying to get to Pettigrew all year! Warm, glorious relief washed over her in waves and her knees felt weak. She knew, she had known all along, that Sirius remained the brave, honorable, luminous boy he had been. She could feel tears of joy pricking at her eyes but she held them back.

Hermione could tell that neither Harry, nor especially Ron, were inclined to believe Lupin, however, so she prompted Lupin to tell the story of their time becoming Animagi by mentioning the Animagus Registry, on which she knew they weren't listed. She felt warm inside when Sirius hurried Lupin along with the tale.

Everything seemed like it was falling into place until Snape pulled the Invisibility Cloak off, revealing himself. In Hermione's desperation for Harry to believe what she knew to be true, she joined the boys in disarming Snape, shocking even herself.

When Pettigrew was forced from his rat shape, Hermione could see nothing of the boy who had followed Sirius and James so loyally and she felt only disgust. Once again, to prompt more evidence of Sirius's innocence and out of plain curiosity, she asked how he had managed to escape from Azkaban, stumbling over how to address him, trying to reconcile the boy she knew with the man before her.

Sirius really looked at her for the first time and a small frown appeared on his face. Something seemed to shift in his eyes but before Hermione could decide what changed, Sirius appeared to recover and answered her question. Hermione breathed deeply, trying to slow the racing beats of her heart.

When Harry refused to allow Sirius and Lupin to kill Pettigrew, she was relieved once again that her best friend would not become a murderer despite Hermione's own loathing of Pettigrew. Everything looked as though it was too good to be true when suddenly, the night was lit by moonlight…

A FEW HOURS AND ANOTHER TRIP TO THE PAST LATER

Harry and Hermione had just watched Buckbeak and Sirius escape behind a far cloud when Hermione felt a tickle of magic next to her ear and heard a soft voice whisper only to her, "It was good to see you again, future girl."


End file.
